Not Today, Maybe Tomorrow
by jyj
Summary: SHIKAINO: today he steals your kunai, tomorrow he steals your heart.


{ **not today, maybe tomorrow**  
by: orenjiismile

today he steals your kunai,  
tomorrow he steals your heart. }

- - -

"Lend me your kunai for a second." Shikamaru frowns; he's always frowning at you. It ticks you off really, but you don't really comment too much on it. (Well, as little a fussy sixteen year old girl can, you think in defiance.)

"Go get your own damned kunai, lazy ass." You reply, slipping two kunai out of your pouch and you twirl them around your finger, right in front of his face, mocking him.

He's not pleased, you can tell. The furrow of his brow is deeper than usual, but you don't read too much into it.

"Seriously Shika, you've got to be more organized. Like Sasuke-kun." Your lips curl up in a smirk, and you ignore his exasperated sigh.

"Shut up Ino." He says, stretching languidly before stepping closer to you. Of course, you don't notice. You're too busy grinning at the thought of Sasuke and his dark dark hair and dark dark eyes and long long eyelashes. Sometimes you wished you had darker hair, not this blonde shit.

It's when he's two inches away from your face do you snap out of your little daydream and the heat crawls up your spine and blemishes your face a cotton-candy pink. "W-what are you doing?"

He doesn't say anything, merely raises an eyebrow before his fingers trail up your arm and grasps firmly around the ring of your kunai.

"I said, lend me your kunai." He whispers into your ear, hot breath brushing against the shell of your ear.

If this were someone else, perhaps another boy, you would have probably brought a hand to your lips and giggled coyly. But this is merely Shikamaru, so you simply roll your eyes and push him away, sending him a scorching glare. "Control your hormones buddy."

He snorts, loud and clear.

Today, he steals your kunai.

He slips them into his pouch and walks away.

You scream after him, "YOU OWE ME."

But you know that you don't really mind, because you borrow Chouji's shurinken all the time and sometimes when you train too long with your team, Shikamaru lends you his jacket.

And of course, there was the time you gave Shikamaru your left earring because he lost his during a mission.

The three of you are like a family, and no matter how many times you wished Sasuke was on your team, you know you wouldn't have it any other way.

- - -

You wonder about a lot of things. Sometimes you wonder if Shikamaru would still like the sky if it was actually green. Other times you wonder if Chouji would still like to eat chips if they were cricket flavoured. Then you wonder if Sakura has ever lent her jacket to her team mate when one of them looses theirs during training.

Because you have.

Three months ago, when winter was still rumbling around in the sky and the streets were icy and lined with snow, Shikamaru lost his jacket after training. You had started off sparring in a forest and somehow managed to migrate to a frozen pond. You're not sure if Shikamaru really did forget his jacket or if he was just too lazy to go back and fetch it, but you threw your brand new jacket at him anyway.

You loved that jacket. You liked the faux fur lining the hood. You liked the white. You especially _liked_how well it complimented your blue eyes when you zipped it up and brushed away stray blonde bangs from your eyes.

But you weren't that cold and Shikamaru's lips were turning blue and purple so you told him to take your jacket before you punched him in the face.

Chouji laughed. Shikamaru didn't. But you knew he wanted to.

- - -

You remember that time in the spring when Shikamaru and Chouji caught you by surprise and they pushed you into that lake near the sunflower field. You spat profanities at them while they pointed and laughed (Asuma just smiled light heartedly). By the time you climbed out of the lake, you were shivering and the spring wind was picking up, soaking your shivers deep within your bones.

You sneezed the entire way home. Chouji and Shikamaru shot guilty looks at each other. As the three of you neared Shikamaru's house, he paused and pondered about something for a second before telling the two of you to wait. A few minutes later, Shikamaru emerged with a large grey sweater. He tossed his sweater to you and told you to put it on before he punched _you_ in the face.

This time, all three of you laughed.

- - -

Today, Shikamaru returns your kunai, along with your jacket.

Today, you're wearing Chouji's hoodie and Shikamaru's sweatpants. (Long story short: you tried to get them back for throwing you into that lake, but somehow you ended up in a large puddle of mud and wet leaves while Shikamaru and Chouji remained spotlessly clean.)

Today, Sakura tells you that you look like '_a freaking guy_'. You shrug, lips curling into a secretive grin. You never really minded anyway. Before you and Sakura started competing for Sasuke, you were already somewhat of a tomboy. You kind of preferred it this way because you didn't have to worry about smudging eyeliner and clumping mascara.

Today, Sasuke blows Sakura off again and Naruto is grinning widely at Sakura, bluntly asking for a date. Today, Sakura rejects Naruto's offer again, and heads home, hands threaded through pink hair in frustration.

Today, you sling an arm around Chouji's shoulder and Shikamaru's shoulder and Shikamaru slides an arm around your waist and Chouji offers you some chips and you realize today, you don't care about your jacket or your hair or your makeup because you've got the best friends a girl could ever ask for.

Today, Shikamaru whistles something he had picked up from Asuma and you roll your eyes in mock annoyance before throwing him a casual punch on his arm as he walks you home. You realize, as he slips his fingers through yours and intertwines them, yesterday he may have stolen your kunai, but today, _today_ he has stolen your heart.

- - -

Naruto (c) Masashi Kishimoto  
TEAM TEN DESERVES MORE LOVEEEE !!!  
Also, Chouji will share his cricket-flavoured chips if you leave a review ;D!

**REVISED: **March 29, 2010.  
_GUHHHH_, thank you guys SO MUCH for the support :D!  
I'm so surprised & honoured at the feedback I've received.  
THANK YOUUUUUU : 3  
*_chuuuuuu_*

&

**RUSSIAN TRANSLATION:**  
{ pay . diary . ru/~narutofiction/?comments&postid=35005755&from=last }  
thank you so much **Ozma1**! :D !!!


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